1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an image forming apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, in a case where printing is operated in using an image forming apparatus such as, e.g., a printer, a photocopier, or a facsimile machine, for example, in using the printer, the printer performs printing as image forming operation according to settings such as, e.g., paper type and printing mode instructed based on printer drivers located inside a host apparatus when the host apparatus connected to the printer generates image forming data (printing data) for forming images and issues and transmits image forming instructions to the printer.
For improvements of printing cost, printers are provided such that can print under a saving mode such as, e.g., back-side printing in using one side printed papers, double-side printing, or N-up printing for printing multiple pages on a single sheet of paper
Particularly, printers connected to a network or networks take great advantages when printing in the above saving mode because an undefined plural number of users may use such printers (see, e.g., Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JA-H6-255842).
With the above conventional printers, however, an operator needs to know in advance as to which tray is set with the one side printed papers in a case of the back-side printing, and also, the operator needs to operate, prior to the printing, prescribed settings upon opening a menu of the printer drivers in a case of the double-side printing or the N-up printing, so that it is not easy to be handled by the operator. Each saving mode as described above is therefore not effectively utilized as different from what printer managers, cost managers, and the like intend.
It is an object of this invention to solve the problems in the above conventional image forming apparatus, and further to provide an image forming apparatus in which the image formation under the saving modes can be utilized effectively.